This paper looks at one strand of debates in India as they emerged in the context of the Hindu ri... more This paper looks at one strand of debates in India as they emerged in the context of the Hindu right-wing project of rewriting history text-books, for some years before and during the earlier NDA regime.
Foucault has had enormous and wide-ranging influence on Indian scholarship, (and schola... more Foucault has had enormous and wide-ranging influence on Indian scholarship, (and scholarship on India), but I am going to focus here only on one concept -governmentality. This concept has implicitly and explicitly shaped some very significant work trying to understand the shape, form, nature and content of “modernity” in India. I will take up two such bodies of work: first, a debate among a number of scholars (largely historians) about the nature and impact of colonial intervention in the 18th and 19th centuries, and second, Partha Chatterjee’s take on the idea of governmentality, through the lens of which he reworks, in the context of postcolonial democracy in India, conventional political theory understandings of the civil society/political society distinction.
Debates on globalization in India tend to harden into polarized rhetorical stances - either uncri... more Debates on globalization in India tend to harden into polarized rhetorical stances - either uncritical celebration of globalization bythe dominant consuming elites or a condemnation, equally lacking in nuances, by "anti-globalization" forces, which range across the political spectrum, from Right to Left. This essay speaks to some of the issues circulating around these debates, and explores significant disjunctures and contradictions on both sides.
Since the Allahabad High Court judgment was delivered
on 30 September 2010, historians, politica... more Since the Allahabad High Court judgment was delivered on 30 September 2010, historians, political commentators, legal scholars and lawyers have all produced serious and engaged critiques of the judgment pointing out flaws in reasoning and law. Based on this substantial body of reflection, this paper develops a composite picture of the problems with the judgment.
This article tracks the journeys made by the term ‘gender’ in India. From its beginnings in the 1... more This article tracks the journeys made by the term ‘gender’ in India. From its beginnings in the 1970s as a feminist contribution to public discourse, destabilizing the biological category of ‘sex’, we find that gender has taken two distinct forms since the 1990s. On the one hand, gender as an analytical category is being used to challenge the notion of ‘woman’ as the subject of feminist politics. This challenge comes from the politics of caste and sexuality. On the other hand, gender is mobilized by the state to perform a role in discourses of development, to achieve exactly the opposite effect; that is, gender becomes a synonym for ‘women’. Thus, the first trend threatens to dissolve, and the second to domesticate, the subject of feminist politics. This article explores the implications of both journeys in terms of a feminist horizon.
... Afiya Shehrbano Zia's contribution outlines how the women&am... more ... Afiya Shehrbano Zia's contribution outlines how the women's movement in Pakistan reformulated its ... translation (2008) Women in Concert: An Anthology of Bengali Muslim Women's Writing, Kolkata: Stree). Agrawal, A. (2006) editor, Migrant Women and Work, New Delhi: Sage. ...
Book Reviews : MADHU KISHWAR, Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women, Delhi
Indian Economic and Social History Review, 2001
The Impossibility of `Justice': Female Foeticide and Feminist Discourse on Abortion
Contributions To Indian Sociology, 1995
... 29, n o 1-2, pp. 369-392 (1 p.3/4) Langue / Language. Anglais Editeur / Publisher. Sage, New ... more ... 29, n o 1-2, pp. 369-392 (1 p.3/4) Langue / Language. Anglais Editeur / Publisher. Sage, New Delhi, INDE (1967) (Revue) Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords. Feminism. ; India. ; Abortion. ;Law. ; Moral. ; Legislation. ; Freedom. ; Demographic behaviour. ; Family planning. ; ...
Universalism without foundations?
Economy and Society, 2002
Review article by Nivedita Menon Universalism without foundations? ... These are life, bodily hea... more Review article by Nivedita Menon Universalism without foundations? ... These are life, bodily health, bodily Nivedita Menon: Universalism without foundations? 153 ...
Uploads
Papers by Nivedita Menon
work trying to understand the shape, form, nature and content of “modernity” in India. I will take up two such bodies of work: first, a debate among a number of scholars (largely
historians) about the nature and impact of colonial intervention in the 18th and 19th centuries, and second, Partha Chatterjee’s take on the idea of governmentality, through the lens of which he reworks, in the context of postcolonial democracy in India, conventional political theory understandings of the civil society/political society distinction.
across the political spectrum, from Right to Left. This essay speaks to some of the issues circulating around these debates, and explores significant disjunctures and contradictions on both sides.
on 30 September 2010, historians, political
commentators, legal scholars and lawyers have all
produced serious and engaged critiques of the
judgment pointing out flaws in reasoning and law.
Based on this substantial body of reflection, this paper
develops a composite picture of the problems
with the judgment.
On the one hand, gender as an analytical category is being used to challenge the notion of ‘woman’ as the subject of feminist politics. This challenge comes from the politics of caste and sexuality. On the other hand, gender is mobilized by the state to perform a role in discourses of development, to achieve exactly the opposite effect;
that is, gender becomes a synonym for ‘women’. Thus, the first trend threatens to dissolve, and the second to domesticate, the subject of feminist politics. This article explores the implications of both journeys in terms of a feminist horizon.